Alligator Energy shares rise on debut

Uranium explorer
Alligator Energy
saw its shares climb as much as 15 per cent on listing on the Australian stock exchange on Thursday after raising $15 million to be directed towards drilling work in its Northern Territory tenements.

Macquarie Group-backed Alligator offered 75 million shares at 20¢ each in its initial public offering in December, which was over-subscribed, and the stock reached 23¢ on listing.

Alligator’s Tin Camp Creek venture, which it bought from Canadian uranium giant Cameco for $2.75 million last year, lies in the Alligator Rivers uranium province which hosts world-class deposits such as Ranger and Jabiluka. The sale was part of a competitive bidding process that is understood to have included mining majors such as Rio Tinto and Brazil’s Vale.

Chief executive Rob Sowerby said on Thursday he expected drilling at Alligator’s Caramal deposit, part of the Tin Camp Creek project, should get underway in May, weather permitting.

“We’ll be moving towards a fairly substantial drilling program which will start as soon as the wet season is over," Mr Sowerby, a former Energy Resources of Australia executive, told Resources Daily. “We expect to be on the ground in earnest in May."

Depending on the results of the drilling, Alligator could be in a position to get a resource confirmed next year, he added.

Macquarie is Alligator’s biggest shareholder, with about 11 per cent, while Toronto-based Laramide Resources has about 4.5 per cent.